Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has refused to say whether the government will ditch its law-breaking Internal Market Bill in order to smooth relations with US president-elect Joe Biden.
Biden made clear earlier this year that there will be no trade deal with the US if Boris Johnson’s government presses ahead with the measure, which allows ministers to override the agreement on the Northern Irish border which the prime minister signed last year.
It has been identified as a key potential stumbling block to establishing close ties with the new White House administration under Mr Biden, who has Irish heritage and has said that the Good Friday Agreement must not become a casualty of Brexit.
But Mr Raab declined to say whether the measure – which the government says is intended to prevent the EU from mounting a food blockade on Northern Ireland – will now be dropped.
The Bill is facing stiff opposition in the House of Lords, where peers are expected to demand the removal of provisions on Northern Ireland on Monday.
Asked whether the measures would now be dropped, Mr Raab told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show only that “in relation to the House of Lords, we will go through that process”.
Mr Raab insisted he is “very confident” that the government can work with the new US administration, despite differences in the past over Mr Johnson’s closeness to the outgoing president, which led Biden to describe the PM as “a physical and emotional clone of Trump”.
He said he expected the prime minister to be in touch with Mr Biden “shortly”.
Meanwhile, Democrat senator Chris Coons, a close ally of Biden who has been tipped as a potential secretary of state in the new administration, played down the prospect of a swift UK/US trade deal.
While telling Marr that a deal would be “one of the most important aspects of the US-UK relationship”, Sen Coons said: “We’re going to have our hands full working through the pandemic now that it is surging again in both of our nations, restoring the vibrancy of our economy.”
He added: “The special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom has endured over decades, and I expect that there will be opportunities promptly for there to be some visits, some conversations and some reconsideration of whatever comments may have been made about the moment of Brexit.
“The reality is that the current government in the UK shares a number of the biggest priorities that a new Biden/Harris administration will have, principally combating climate change, finding ways to work together on privacy and security and promoting democracy around the world.
“We’ve got more to do together than we could possibly do apart, and I think some of these enduring and tectonic forces will bring us together fairly quickly.”
Mr Raab brushed aside comments from a former White House staffer who said the Democrats would “never forget” Johnson’s closeness to the outgoing president and his comments about Barack Obama’s “part-Kenyan” heritage.
Responding to the PM’s message of congratulations to Mr Biden last night, Tommy Vietor – a former spokesman for president Obama – tweeted: “This shapeshifting creep weighs in. We will never forget your racist comments about Obama and slavish devotion to Trump.”
Mr Raab told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “I’m sure you’ll be able to find snippets of discord in the aftermath of a campaign.
“What I’m saying is I’m absolutely confident in the bedrock of values and interests that we share because when America wants to act in the world it has no more reliable friend than the United Kingdom.”
He added: “I’m very confident, from climate change to co-operation on coronavirus and counterterrorism, there’s a huge bedrock of underlying interests and values that bind us very closely together.
“When we look at what Joe Biden talked about doing in foreign policy, he will have no greater ally and no more dependable friend than the United Kingdom.”
Mr Raab said there would be “points of tension in any relationship, particularly the deepest and most profound ones”.
But he added: “The things that that president-elect Biden wants to achieve internationally, the things that he’s been talking about in this campaign – not just security, counter-terrorism, the Middle East, but coronavirus and returning to the Paris Climate Agreement – these are all things where, particularly with our G7 presidency next year, and our hosting of the COP26 (climate change conference), I think we will have huge amounts of co-operation and I’m excited about working with new administration.”
Mr Raab insisted that it was the EU, and not Britain, which was putting the Northern Ireland peace process at risk by its insistence on compliance with the treaty which Mr Johnson signed last year. He also suggested that it was Brussels rather than London which needed to show “flexibility” to secure a trade deal by the end of 2020.
He told Andrew Marr : “We’ve been very clear we are absolutely committed to respect the Good Friday Agreement but our argument is … it is the EU who has put pressure on that with the approach it has taken.
“We want to resolve all those issues with the EU – obviously the negotiations are ongoing, there is a good chance of a deal if we get the flexibility from the EU on fisheries and level-playing field.
“I’m confident we will navigate all of those issues sensitively, correctly, and, as I said, we listen very carefully to our American friends, particularly on the Hill and in the Irish lobby – they feel very invested in the Good Friday Agreement, we understand that, and I pay tribute to what George Mitchell and Bill Clinton did – but it is not the UK which is putting it at risk, it is the approach of the EU.”
